


The World You Close Your Eyes To See

by creeper_gavin



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Abandonment, Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, Angst, Blood, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Jack/Geoff, Eventual OT6, Fake AH Crew, Fluff, Injury, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Physical hurt/comfort, Pre-Fake AH Crew, Slow Build, Weapons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 17:22:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13392621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creeper_gavin/pseuds/creeper_gavin
Summary: " There’s only so much negativity in life a boy can handle to before he starts to dream. And Geoff was a sure-fire dreamer. And he might have been a bit more vocal about these dreams before now if they weren’t so… dodgy. See, Geoff wanted a way to become more than he was and he would stop at no lengths to get there. He wanted a world of fame and fortune. He wanted to be awed and notorious.“Geoff, are you sure about this?” Jack asks him gently and Geoff nods, pressing a kiss into his knuckles. “If this goes wrong… this will be last attempt you ever get at money making. You won’t be able to make it in prison.”Since the two had been reunited Geoff’s biggest promise was that Jack would get the life he deserved, the life that Geoff wanted to give him. "Geoff promised to give Jack the world since they were thirteen years old and if he has to pay his way through crime then so be it. But what if Geoff gets too in over his head, too wrapped up all things material? What if he forgets the real reason he became what he was? And what if he destroys the family he makes along the way?





	The World You Close Your Eyes To See

**Author's Note:**

> Two fics in a row from me? If it wasn't January I'd swear this was some sort of Christmas miracle. Anyway, this is the first chapter of many in this particular fic. It's inspired by The Greatest Showman but its not an AU cause it doesn't have a circus or musical numbers or... anything The Greatest Showman actually has. Look, you'll understand at some point, I promise.
> 
> Oh, second note. I said in my last fic I have my old Tumblr creeper-gavin-fic but I don't. Can't get into it. So if you want requests it'll have to be on here!

Geoff Ramsey didn’t come from much. This he knew all so clear. He wasn’t bound for anything, let alone greatness. He had an amicable upbringing, his parents taught to him to accept his life for what it was.

_“Don’t complain.”_

_“At least there’s food on the table.”_

_“Accept it.”_  

Geoff and Jack were childhood sweethearts, together behind closed doors and fearing for their lives through it all. Because boys weren’t allowed to date boys. That was wrong, that was disgusting. That was enough to earn Geoff a slap across the face the first-time Jack’s father saw the two holding hands.

He was thirteen at the time.

Jack was shipped off to boarding school for the incident, Geoff barred from seeing him ever again. Like that was going to stop them. Geoff watched Jack the day he was bundled into the car, the fresh bruises stinging his cheeks. He remembers running after the car until his father managed to catch him. Geoff collapsed down to his knees, fists slamming into the ground and tears streaming down his cheeks, scraping the dirt under his fingernails.

“You’re better than this, Geoffrey.” His father had told him firmly, patting his shoulder with a nod and pulling his son up onto his feet.

“Not without him…” Geoff mumbled in reply.

“Without _any_ boy.”

“Not without him…” Geoff repeats, his voice barely a whisper. Tear stained cheeks and bright red eyes staring after the car and he blinks harshly at the bright light of the annoyingly beautiful summer’s day.

Geoff’s father huffs and gets up, picking his son up by the scruff of his collar. Geoff groans, fighting back for a moment and manages to place his feet onto the ground. The tears are still rolling and he pulls away from his father’s grasp, jerking forward when he’s no longer restrained.

“You’ll get over him.” He says sternly. “You’ll realise it’s not normal.”

“I won’t.” Geoff declares. “I never will.”

“Even if it were normal.” A snide voice speaks and Geoff glances up to be greeted with Jack’s father who was descending the steps of his house. “You and your family aren’t good enough for my son.” He sneers.

Geoff lunches forward but he’s caught by his own father again.

“Not worth it, Geoffrey.” He says calmly. “Move on.”

“I’d give your son the fucking world, sir.” Geoff spits out the title like it pains him to say it but Jack’s father just scoffs.

Not long after Jack’s departure Geoff’s family had thrown him out onto the streets of the city to fend for himself. The news of Geoff’s… direction had reached society and the family was shamed daily for their son.

Young and alone Geoff kept himself alive, writing to Jack when he could. He didn’t mention that he was living on the streets, didn’t mention that society had shunned him completely. Jack would only worry, he was good at that.

On one particularly cold day Geoff was searching the city for something, anything to eat. Walking the streets of Los Santos in a moment of desperation, without even thinking, he reached out and grabbed a loaf of bread of a market stall. He starts to run in any direction, he can hear the vendor yelling out angrily. Before Geoff can get that far away there sound of running footsteps behind him and suddenly fingers wrap around the collar of his shirt. He’s yanked back harshly, the loaf pulled from his grasp.

“Dirty beggar.” The vendor spits at Geoff and throws him into the wall of a building. Geoff groans as his head hits the hard brick, scraping the skin from his palms and knees along the pavement and suddenly a trickle of blood from a graze by his eye runs down the side of his face.

Geoff sighs and curls up for a moment, trying to compose himself enough to re-face the world; eyes squeezed shut tight. Suddenly, there’s a hand on his shoulder and the boy flinches, scrambling away backwards on his hands and bottom. Eyes still shut in fear, back scratching across the rough wall behind him.

“No, hang on…” A gruff voice comes. Not a voice someone should inherently trust but one that Geoff was inclined to. It wasn’t that of an LSPD officer, it wasn’t that of an angry market stall vendor and it didn’t seem to be that of a person who was about to spit on him where he sat (he wished he could say that had never happened to him before). Therefore, how bad could this person really be?

“Not gonna hurt you, lad.” The voice spoke again and Geoff slowly opens up his eyes.

A man roughly dressed with clothes dirtier than Geoff’s own was crouching in front of him, holding out a bucket of fried chicken from a nearby take away. It smelled incredible and Geoff hasn’t had a hot meal in months.

“Take it.” He says.

“Why?” Geoff asks wearily but he wants to eat it badly. The blood drips onto his lips and Geoff wipes it away harshly with the back of his hand.

“Because I think you need it more than I do.”

Geoff narrows his eyes, by the man’s appearance he doesn’t look like he should be able to afford this sort of food anymore than Geoff can. He notes the rucksack on his back and the sleeping bag under his arm.

“How did you get this...?”

The man simply smiles softly.

“A man’s got to have his ways when the world decides it suddenly doesn’t care anymore.” He winks towards Geoff and pushes the bucket into the young boy’s hand. “Don’t eat it right here, find somewhere a little quieter, okay? You got more chance of finishing the whole thing that way.”

Geoff nods but before he can open his mouth to say thank you the man takes off amongst the crowd on the street and Geoff’s left by himself again, hands greasy from just the bucket alone.

* * *

 

“Crime, Geoff…?” Jack breathes softly. He blinks up at the man from where he sits in their bed.

 It had been hard going for a while and Geoff was certain at one point that he’d never see Jack again. With no true address, it was harder for Geoff to receive letters than it was to send them. There was a few years in Geoff’s life where the letters had to stop but as soon as he’d gotten a slight hold of his life, was old enough to start to earning money he’d found himself the cheapest apartment he could and immediately sent a letter to Jack’s boarding school.

He hadn’t even known if Jack was still there, if Jack even remembered his childhood sweetheart. But how could Jack forget the reason he’d been sent to that torturous place? He rarely spoke about his experience and Geoff wouldn’t ever make him but from what he could gather it was scarring both mentally and physically. Geoff was simply glad Jack had never held it against him for being the reason he was sent there.

The two had met up the moment Jack finished school, the two declared the love, embraced and kissed for the first time in their lives and Geoff sunk into experiencing genuinely loving physical contact for the first time since Jack’s departure.

They’d gotten married the moment it became legal.

“Yes, crime. Think about it for a moment,” Geoff says as he walks around to Jack’s side of the bed and crouches down. He clasps his husband’s hand gently into both of his own and looks up at him.

There’s only so much negativity in life a boy can handle to before he starts to dream. And Geoff was a sure-fire dreamer. And he might have been a bit more vocal about these dreams before now if they weren’t so… dodgy. See, Geoff wanted a way to become more than he was and he would stop at no lengths to get there. He wanted a world of fame and fortune. He wanted to be awed and notorious.

“Geoff, are you sure about this?” Jack asks him gently and Geoff nods, pressing a kiss into his knuckles. “If this goes wrong… this will be last attempt you ever get at money making. You won’t be able to make it in prison.”

Since the two had been reunited Geoff’s biggest promise was that Jack would get the life he deserved, the life that Geoff wanted to give him. But for that they needed a small fortune and Geoff’s money-making schemes never quite worked out for one reason or another.

“I know… and I’ve thought about it I promise.”

“Have you really? Properly, I mean.”

“Jack, I promise. I know what I’m doing.”

“You said that last time.” Jack sighs softly, squinting cautiously towards his husband.

“Do you trust me, Jack?” Geoff questions, shifting his position as he starts to get cramp in his legs from crouching. “I won’t pull you into all this if you don’t.”

“With all my heart.” Jack promises, he leans down to kiss Geoff’s forehead. “Let me be a part of it all.”

* * *

 

Years later from the day Jack promised his husband he’d support and carry out a life of crime not much had changed. Geoff and Jack were still just scraping by with enough money to buy food and keep a roof over their heads but not much more. They had no luxury, no extra income at all. It wasn’t the life that Geoff had dreamed of for his tiny family, not all.

Geoff’s wanders into an internet café looking for some poor shmuck he can lift the wallets off of while they have their head stuck in the virtual world. Headphones on and away in the clouds, people have little attention outside of the bright glow of their screens.

He takes a seat in the corner of the room, and glances up at the security cameras in each corner of the room. He waits for the blinking light of activity but after a good few minutes it still doesn’t appear.

_Duds._

Safe from the prying eyes of the law he takes a quick glance around the room. No one in here has noticed him. A couple of kids playing games while their parents are undoubtedly grocery shopping next door; a student furiously typing into a search engine for topics Geoff hasn’t even heard of before; one homeless man who’s clearly only here for a warm place to escape; and a man who couldn’t be much older than eighteen with fingers moving fluidly across the keyboard and coding Geoff couldn’t begin to interpret flicking across the screen. Geoff wonders if the man is even reading it at all but by the way his eyes cross back and forth with the code itself he assumes he must be. Whatever that man is doing he’s engrossed in his screen. And his wallet is sticking out his back pocket.

Perfect target.

Geoff waits a moment, pretending to check his phone before getting back up to his feet. He stretches a little and heads for the door, passing by the man’s chair. His arm reaches out as he passes, fingers closing around the wallet.

No sooner it free of its owner a hand whips backward, closes around Geoff’s wrist and twists the bone in the wrong direction. Geoff squeaks in pain and looks up but the man is already staring at him, headphones pulled down from his ears, now hanging around his neck.

“What are you doing?” The man asks and Geoff has to blink in surprise. He doesn’t expect a British accent to come floating from his lips.

“I was.. erm.” Geoff doesn’t actually have an answer. The Brit suddenly plucks his wallet from Geoff still trapped hand and slams it down on the table in front of him, making his keyboard jump.

“Bugger off.”

Geoff nods quickly and leaves the internet café instantly. If he’d gone for anyone else in that room he would have got away with it, he’s noted that for sure. Not one person looked his way during their entire conversation.

If you could call it a conversation.

Geoff pauses for a moment by the window. The British man had already put his headphones back on, his fingers back to wildly tapping on a keyboard and his eyes flicking back and forth and unchartered speeds across the screen.

He sighs dejectedly, nursing his slowly bruising wrist and decides to call it a day.

Geoff traipses into the living room, throwing a small bag of money onto the coffee table and eventually flopping down onto a worn and sagging couch. Geoff suspects the amount in that bag will just about cover their food for the next two days, perhaps a small amount can go to the pot for rent but not much more.

“Slow day?” Jack asks tentatively as he scoops up the bag and tests the weight of its contents.

“Just like every other fucking day.” Geoff grumbles bitterly. He doesn’t mean to be so downhearted and it’s not the Geoff that Jack first met.

Jack perches himself onto the edge of the sofa and smiles sympathetically.

“Business will pick back up.” He promises but Geoff just rolls his sleeves up with a sigh to bury his face into his hands. “What happened to your wrist?” He asks in concern.

“How can business pick back up when it has never once _been_ up and it was barely a _business_ to start with?” Geoff snaps, his head flicking up with angry eyes and he immediately regrets it. Jack doesn’t coil away or flinch in anyway but his eyes are instantly saddened. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean… and the bruise is… nothing… it’s fine… I…” He peters out into nothingness.

Jack nods and lets out a long heavy sigh.

“You’re just one man working alone… but you want to be bigger than that.” Jack starts, “The problem is your dream is being bigger than yourself.” He says honestly, gently tugging at his husband’s wrist to get a better look at it.

“So I should just fucking give up then should I?” Geoff declares. He stands up suddenly, wrenching his wrist from Jack’s grasp and walks over to the tiny window of their apartment. It hurt more than the dramatic move was worth, the skin stinging painfully. Stuffing his hands into his pockets in an effort to ignore the feeling he sighs softly and rests his head against the pane of glass, surveying the entirety of Los Santos.

Jack shakes his head despite the fact that Geoff isn’t even looking at him. He joins his husband at the window and places a caring hand onto his shoulder, giving it a squeeze of support.

“No Geoff.” He says, “But you need to think your plan over some more. You’ve been pick pocketing by yourself for over a year now and, honestly, I don’t know what you expect to get from any of this. Unless you manage to pick pocket a millionaire - and let’s be honest you’re not going to do that – then you’re not getting anywhere.”

“You should be a fucking motivational speaker.” Geoff grumbles, breath fogging up the glass. Jack wipes it away with his sleeve, leaving smear marks across the dirty glass.

“What do you see out there Geoff?”

“A city I’ll never conquer.” He whispers. “What about you?”

“People looking for jobs.” Jack responds. Geoff lifts his head, brows knitted in confusion. “People with transferable skills who are looking for a roof over their heads and a way to make a living.”

“What’s that got to do with me?”

“You wanted a business right? What’s a business without employees?

Geoff turns back to the window and gazes out at the city’s skyline. Jack’s hand strong on his shoulder. Jack’s never once been wrong and Geoff has. A lot of times actually.

“We got any whiskey?” Geoff asks with a sigh and Jack nods.

“We’ve got that stuff you stole from the drunk man last month.” He says, glancing towards the kitchen.

“Like taking candy from a baby.” Geoff smirks.

“Or taking alcohol from a black-out drunk.”

“Don’t ruin this for me…”

**Author's Note:**

> So how was that? I hope you all enjoy it. I expect other chapters to be longer honestly. This was almost a prologue of sorts? Didn't wanna give too much away before I know if you guys even like the premise. 
> 
> This fic is the reason I picked this account back up. I'm very excited to be back! I'll take prompts no problem. Just leave them here or message me! 
> 
> Kudos and Comments mean the world. <3
> 
> Have a great day all!


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